We have moved!

Everything changes. Especially when computers are involved.

One the one hand, we are sad to leave the Blogger platform, which has been good to us and provided exactly what we needed at the time.

On the other hand, we are super excited about our new website, where we have moved this blog, and the opportunities it offers to let us promote more things on our website and at our libraries.

You can find posts from the blog on our front page, or you can bookmark our new site -- www.myjcpl.org/blogs -- which has the latest posts from all of the library's blogs, and links to our individual blogs.

We hope to see you there, and we hope you'll drop us a line and let us know how you like the new arrangement.

Think Ahead With These New Non-Fiction Titles From JCPL!

“You’ll shoot your eye out!” Ralphie’s mother in “A Christmas Story” knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if he got that Red Ryder BB Gun that he wanted so badly for Christmas, he would definitely shoot his eye out.

Most mothers (and grandmothers) would see things that way, anticipating the dreaded consequence of one moment’s carelessness before it even happens. It’s not a “crystal ball” realization; it’s not a “gut feeling;” and it’s not even a skill, such as mothers have, with eyes in the back of their heads and all. You can call it experience, or you can call it wisdom, or you can call it expertise, or just chalk it up to intuition, but in “The Two Second Advantage: How We Succeed by Anticipating the Future” by Vivek Ranadive, it would be chalked up to “predictive technology,” or mastering the ability to predict what will happen BEFORE it happens. This powerfully written guide to “thinking ahead” is the result of fifteen years of scientific data that has separated the good from the great, and the finding is that the one distinguishing factor to greatness is the ability to anticipate events just seconds before they occur. For example, what made Wayne Gretzky the greatest hockey player of all time? The answer is that he had the ability to predict where the hockey puck was going to land just before it met its destination. Similarly, companies that use “predictive technology” to see snafus and operational problems before they occur are much more successful in their business than those that don’t.
Anticipating the future by checking out this new non-fiction title from your local branch of the Jasper County Public Library, as well as the others listed here, is a sure bet that you’re on the road to success. Check these out!

When a health scare prompts journalist, Jenkins McKay on a quest to find out what toxins he might be harboring in his body, his investigation led him to find out the truth about toxic chemicals that reach alarming levels; and they’re in ordinary things and familiar places. “What’s Gotten Into Us? Staying Healthy in a Toxic World” by Jenkins McKay will empower you as a consumer with the knowledge that you need to regain control over your life, making your environment, thus, your body, less toxic.

The role reversal that an adult child faces when taking care of an aging parent becomes a necessity is addressed in “A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents and Ourselves.” Remembering that caring for your parent is much worse on them than it is on you is the first key to a successful, insightful experience. This valuable guide offers important facts, including state laws and licensing requirements for financial, legal and other matters that affect the elderly. Qualifying for Medicare is also addressed, along with the options of assisted living and round the clock care verses nursing home care; all in all a very valuable resource for those facing the possibility of caring for aging parents.

The ever increasing divorce rate in this country is testament to the fact that many marriages just don’t fall into the “happily ever after” category. Failure to achieve marital bliss is a well-known fact, but we don’t hear much about the marriages that last. In “The Secret Lives of Wives: Women Who Share What It Takes to Stay Married” by Iris Krasnow, over 200 women whose marriages have lasted anywhere from 15-70 years were interviewed, and their secrets are revealed in this guide to “till death do us part.”

An expert at overcoming obstacles, both personal and professional, Bethany Frankel offers no-nonsense, tell it like it is advice for dealing with daily challenges in “A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life.” This book includes rules that set examples for learning the route to success by not doubting yourself and having an “I can” attitude, leading to a more fulfilled, healthier and downright amazing future for you.

Ralphie in “A Christmas Story” definitely had a “can do” attitude, and visited “A Place of Yes,” because in the end, he got his Red Ryder BB Gun, against his mother’s better judgment. Mother Knows Best, especially when it comes to keeping both eyes intact, because you won’t want to miss all of these great, new titles at JCPL!

Variety is the Spice of Life With all That JCPL Has to Offer In Reading Material!

Shopping around is a great way to unearth deals and bargains. The best bargain, by far this holiday season, is right in your hometown, and the deals right at your fingertips. Are you a traditional reader, who enjoys the feel of a book in your hand, or is your choice of reading material more along the lines of Nook, Kindle, or some other mobile device? Maybe you prefer to hear your favorite books read aloud as you drive or as you work; in that case, audio-books are the perfect choice for you.


Books come in all shapes, sizes and forms, and at the Jasper County Public Library, we understand your need for access to the hottest, most popular titles available, and we strive to provide the most current titles, no matter which genre you prefer.


Each branch of JCPL houses the newest titles of print materials in a separate space, so that you can shop quickly and see, at a glance, the most current books available. For those who prefer eBooks, JCPL now offers a new collection of titles through a service called, “Overdrive.” Through Overdrive, you can check out popular e-Book titles with your library card and enjoy them for a lending period of 7-14 days. Titles automatically expire at the end of the lending period, so there are no late fees. To get started with Overdrive, first go to the Indiana Digital Download Center site at iddc.lib.overdrive.com and download the software that you’ll need for your system, then you can browse the collection and download your favorite titles. There are hundreds of titles to choose from!


Audio-books are available in a myriad of titles, which may also be checked out for a three week lending period and renewed for another three weeks as well.


The weather outside may be cold, but the choices of materials at the Jasper County Public Library are hotter than ever. Stop in and check it out!

Kick Start Your Autumn Break With These New Fiction Titles at JCPL!

Remember the story problems that we did as kids in school? Here is a story problem: If today is November 9 and there are 30 days in November and thirty one days in December and Christmas falls on December 25, how many days are left until Christmas? I never was a whiz at math, but if I cheat and look at the calendar, I can tell you that there are 46 days until Christmas, and if I divide the 46 days into weeks, it’s still OVER 6 weeks until Santa makes his appearance. Department stores and TV ads are already playing Jingle Bells and “decking the halls.” Halloween is barely out of the woods and Christmas is already making an appearance. Have I slept through the fall months? Have I already missed my most favorite of all holidays; Thanksgiving?! Gee whiz, is it fair to shortchange Turkey Day and the fall season and jump straight into winter? Time to take a break and kick back and enjoy these cool, blustery days and snuggle into the nest that will soon enough be hard to find time for, and read, read, read! Here are a few new fiction titles from your friends at JCPL that will kick start your autumn break!

Dewey Andreas is searching for peace, and hopes to find it in rural Australia. Unfortunately, the powers that he once fought against are out for revenge, and now they’ve found him, forcing him to fight for his life. On the other side of the globe in Pakistan, a radical cleric has gained power, starting an all out war with India that quickly escalates out of control. With the threat of nuclear response a high probability, the need for a cease fire is more important than ever, and there is only one man who can lead a team that can pull off the impossible task; Dewey Andreas. But can he get out of Australia alive? Find out in “Coup d’Etat” by Ben Coes.

Amelia Wilkes and Anthony Winter are high school seniors, desperately in love. Amelia’s father, Harlan, however, will not allow his daughter to date. Her mother, Kim, though, is more open minded and keeps the couple’s secret. When Harlan discovers the couple’s passion for one another via intimate pictures on Amelia’s computer, his fury turns to a lust for revenge against the young man, and Harlan turns him into local law enforcement, creating a public case that takes disturbing twists and turns in “Exposure” by Therese Fowler.

When a hostage situation arises in a television studio, former investigative journalist, Tom Pegg finds himself embroiled in the mess when the kidnapper chooses him as a go-between. Events turn chaotic and the drama reaches a fever pitch when two very different people are thrown together by the crisis, resulting in gripping and page-turning suspense in “The Blue Light Project” by Timothy Taylor.

With streets named Nutcracker Court and Sugar Plum Lane, Fairbrook is the perfect town for Christmas glitz. But the holiday season isn’t what it’s cracked up to be for all of Fairbrook’s residents, including single mom, Carly Westbrook, who is struggling to make ends meet and still provide a nice Christmas for her boys, and Grant Barrows, a formerly wealthy businessman struggling to come to grips with his shrinking bank account. Still, the local ladies group holds out hope that a Christmas miracle may come to pass in “Christmas on Nutcracker Court” by Judy Duarte.

If there are 24 hours in a day and 46 days until Christmas, that adds up to 1,104 hours. Taking time out to relax and escape into the characters and plot of a good book checked out from the Jasper County Public Library might just fit into that schedule. If you do the math, you’ll discover that I’m 100% correct!

"Teachable Moments" Are Within Each and Every Book You Read!

Life is full of “teachable moments.” “You learn something new every day” is my mantra. If you’re an avid reader, you know this phrase to be true. Even if what you normally read is fiction, there’s always a grain of truth and a lesson or two in each story. In a previous article, I had described a book written by Lisa Genova entitled, “Left Neglected,” using the blurb from the front of the book to explain the story. After writing it up, I decided to check the book out from the Jasper County Public Library and read it myself, and found it to be one “teachable moment” after another. The story revolves around Sarah Nickerson, a “yuppie” who has it all; a high powered job as the vice president of a human resources firm, three children, involved in sports and other recreational activities, a wonderful, supportive husband, who is also an overachiever in his chosen career, and a beautiful home in a well-to-do Boston suburb, as well as a house in Vermont. Having it all, however, comes at a price, and Sarah finds that out one rainy day while multitasking on her way to a meeting, texting and driving at 70 miles per hour straight into a line of traffic that has come to a complete stop. Totaling her car and waking up in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury, Sarah is shocked to find that the left side of everything, including her body, has literally disappeared off of her radar. She is suffering from “Left Neglect,” a syndrome that entails much physical therapy to restore the left half of everything, including things we take for granted every day; the food on the left half of her plate, anyone seated to the left of her, even the left half of her own face is devoid of makeup after she’s sure she’s covered all ground during her usual makeup routine. During her therapy and recovery, her husband, Bob, needs help with their three children and calls in Sarah’s mother. Sarah has unresolved issues with her mother, feeling neglected herself during her childhood after her only brother, Nate, drowned in a friend’s pool at a young age, leaving her mother so depressed and guilt ridden that she couldn’t bring herself to care for her remaining child and husband. Sarah’s recovery is slow, and the author does a fabulously hilarious job of describing in detail one comical misadventure after another as Sarah accepts her Left Neglect, along with the help of her mother, healing both her body and psyche as she comes to fully understand her mother’s longstanding depression and her own shortcomings as well.

After reading the book, I looked up “Left Neglect” and discovered that it is a real medical condition, brought on by stroke, or other injury to the brain. Want to learn more? Check out these other new fiction titles from JCPL.

John and Laura Foster are aboard a steamship headed straight for a hurricane on the Atlantic coast, and are faced with the terrifying possibility of being separated when the women and children on the ship are evacuated to another ship. “Deepest Waters” by Dan Walsh is set in a pre-Civil war era, and is based on the true-life sinking of the SS Central America, carrying a payload of gold. This character-driven novel is full of historical events as well as drama and adventure, containing subplots along with the main storyline.

Professional home stager, Sandy Sullivan, is quite an expert at taking a cluttered space in a home and turning it into a cozy and attractive living area, ripe for selling. Sandy’s career as a home stager is the easy part of her life; one she can change with a dash of paint and proper placement of furniture. Her personal life, however, is sorely lacking the same pizzazz as her work life. Living in a suburb of Boston along with a “back burner” husband and a grown son who has turned their basement into a “bat cave,” Sandy takes a job in Atlanta staging a boutique recently acquired by her best friend’s boyfriend. In “Best Staged Plans” by Claire Cook, you’ll recognize the characters to be believable enough to be your own next door neighbors, and the storyline full of not only fun twists and turns, but great tips and tricks for fixing up any humble abode.

Maybe you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but by reading these or any other of the new, fiction titles on the shelves of your local Jasper County Public Library, you’ll be sure to experience a “Confucius” moment; “You cannot open a book without learning something.”

What Does Your Future Hold? New Fiction at JCPL, of Course!

If you would have told me a few years ago that I would be driving a mini-van someday, I would have told you that you’re wrong. No way would I drive a “bus.” My vehicles have always been compact; after all, I’m only 4’11” tall. So now, in my driveway, sits a red van, and every time I walk through my living room and see that “bus” out in my driveway, I wonder who is visiting, because, mentally, I still have not adjusted to the large capacity vehicle that is sitting where my little Toyota should be. I tote around 4 grandkids quite frequently, and buckling them into safety seats was getting way too cramped, hence the decision to buy a van. According to Carter, the character in the book I’m currently reading, buying a van is an inevitable consequence of getting older; everyone is doing it. In the story, he arrives at a party, driving a van, and when the hostess spies his new ride, she asks, “What is that?” “That,” Carter replies, is your future. You laugh now, but no one can escape the minivan. It’s like wrinkles and nursing homes.” Ouch…I had to learn from a character in “Finny” by Justin Kramon just how OLD I am. “Finny,” by the way, is one of the best, character driven novels I’ve read in awhile. At the beginning of the book, the main character, Finny Short, is fourteen years old, and a defiant teenager she is. Her parents are so exasperated with her antics that they send her to boarding school, where Finny must slightly readjust to her new surroundings. Her precociousness prevails, however, and Finny moves into adulthood after much mischief in a remarkable adventure, with no shortage of charm as she recklessly seeks happiness and true love.

This new title on the shelves of the Jasper County Public Library is one you won’t want to miss; and for the upcoming cooler weather, don’t miss these new titles either!

When John and Irene got married, they were each certain of one thing; this would never work. When their daughter, Sadie, came along, the pair of them at least had one thing in common. Sadie was the center of their lives, and each of them held their daughter in their hearts as only parents can treasure their child. When John and Irene divorced, Sadie stayed the one common denominator in their lives, even though they lived across the country from each other. At eighteen, Sadie was like most teenagers, and began testing her strength and freedom, but when she dared to strike out on her own, going behind her parent’s backs to meet the boy of her dreams, Sadie found herself in deep trouble. John and Irene were then forced to meet once again, but this time under circumstances that neither of them ever expected in “Once Upon a Time, There Was You” by Elizabeth Berg.

Realizing that her days of lucid thinking are numbered because of early onset dementia, Ann Biddle desperately tries to resolve issues and hurts that have plagued her for decades, with the tragic death of her young daughter being the most difficult cross to bear. Blessed with Ellie, the eight year old granddaughter that she dearly loves, Ann finds common ground with her daughter in law, struggling to help the young mother unwind her tightly wound protectiveness toward Ellie in “The Bird House” by Kelly Simmons.

Taking an online test called, “What kind of car are you,” I discovered that beneath it all, I am really a VW Beetle, stuck in a red van’s body. What kind of car are you, and what does your future hold? Only one answer comes to mind for that question; that is a trip to JCPL, where the only thing you can really count on for your near future is lots of great, new fiction!

Ageless, Timeless Fiction at JCPL!

I’m not one of those women who hate to admit their age. I don’t advertise it, but if I it happens to come up in conversation, I’ll admit how old I am. I have, however, been known to be wrong about how old I really am. An honest mistake, so to speak. One year, as my birthday got closer, a friend of ours was visiting, and the fact that my birthday was a month away was mentioned. When asked how old my upcoming birthday would make me, I answered, “I’ll be thirty eight.” Several beats went by, and finally, my friend said, “I could be wrong, but haven’t you been thirty eight for an awfully long time now?” Hmmm…Maybe the age thing is more of an issue than I thought. When it comes to that subject, I guess I’m sort of on the same page with India Bishop, a thirty eight (really forty three) year old woman who has literally reinvented herself and then falls for a wealthy older man named Marcus Croft. The only thing missing from her life now is a baby, and when her attempts at pregnancy fail, she turns to technology, her life intersecting with the lives of Jules Strauss and Annie Barrow, leading readers into the hearts of women’s lives in unforgettable and tender ways in “Then Came You” by Jennifer Weiner.


I could describe this book as “not old” at the Jasper County Public Library. In fact, it’s NEW, and so are the following titles! Read on!


Banished from New York to the balmy seaside resort of Port Fontaine, Florida due to political fallout, forensic pathologist, Dr. Edward Jenner hopes that the change of scenery will do him good. Jenner’s hopes are dashed, however, when he finds himself embroiled in another death investigation, this one hitting close to home, because the corpse belongs to his former mentor, Dr. Martin Roburn. Putting the pieces together gets a little dicey when four more corpses turn up, seemingly tied to the murder of Roburn and an up and coming drug trade, common in the sleepy little town in “A Hard Death,” the sequel to “Precious Blood” by Jonathan Hayes.


With prominent canines, an uncommon affinity for plants like blood-wart and Dracula orchid, Vlad Servan dresses entirely in black and hails from Romania. Could it be that this friend of Abby Knight’s fiancé is truly a vampire? When a local woman’s corpse is found drained of blood, the search for a killer is on. With Vlad as suspect #1, Abby and her fiancé, Marco, must race against time to prove him innocent in “Night of the Living Dandelion: A Flower Shop Mystery” by Kate Collins.


Retired American schoolteacher, Dorothy Martin has chosen to live out her retirement enjoying the English countryside. Invited to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night at the fully restored Branston Abbey, a major storm blows through, dimming the festive nature of the party. When a tree blows over, revealing a human skeleton tangled within its roots, intrigue follows in “A Dark and Stormy Night” by Jeanne M. Dams.


These “not old” books from JCPL would be great ways to celebrate, say, your 38th birthday. Mark Twain had it right when he quipped, “There is no cure for the common birthday.” Not your 38th birthday? Mine, either, but I still plan to make a trip to JCPL, where the new fiction on the shelves are as ageless as we all are, because, after all, age is just a number, and you can never have enough to read, no matter how old you are!